A few thoughts on the past couple days

It has now officially been 10 days since Ironman Louisville. All of the pain is gone. What little muscle soreness I had has now subsided. I still find myself tired at times - feeling like I could sleep all day. After all, I trained for over six months for this race. Some 6am swims, to spending what seems like an eternity on the bike to finishing up runs at 9:15 when there is only the slightest bit of daylight left. Now, I need my rest. My only problem is that resting is not me. It's not what I do. I go and I don't stop. That's what got me through my Ironman. The fact that I only stopped when my stomach made me. I never stopped because of the multiple blisters on each foot or because my legs were getting tired. Through all this, I was able to learn one thing - your legs don't get nearly as sore walking 20 miles as they do running for 17 miles. Unfortunately that comes from experience.

The past 10 days have been very pleasant. I have caught up on some much needed yardwork. I think I saw one of our neighbors stick his head out the door when I started my lawnmower. I don't think he believed it was me.

Yesterday was my first day doing anything physical and I was feeling it. I decided to take my mountain bike out and ride some at Paris Mountain. I rode the Firetower Trail once then met up with G who just bought a mountain bike. Since he had never really ridden a mtn bike before, I took him up the same trail. It is a good challenge for a beginner. After getting to the top the second time, I all of a sudden got very hot and lightheaded. I sat down and drank some water. After a few minutes I felt better. Besides, the fun part is yet to come (downhill). Upon reaching the bottom, I felt okay and decided to make another loop down the Brissie Ridge Trail, then back up. Total was about 10 miles. At first, I was very worried about my legs, then they loosened up and felt pretty good. I will say that I am a little sore today though. :)

After work today, I decided to go out and get in a short, easy run. I wasn't looking to break any records. I just wanted to be active and be outside. I threw on my Mizuno's since I threw away the other three pairs of shoes and headed out. This time was different than most of my other runs before. This time, there was no Body Glide. No heart rate monitor. No watch. Not even my running mix playing on my Ipod. I wanted to go have fun - and this I did. I ran two miles. (I know because of the amount of times I ran that loop.) My legs felt awesome! My plan is to do this for a while - go enjoy the outdoors while exercising.

Well, what's the final concensus on the Ironman? Am I happy? - Kind of. Am I proud of myself? - Sort of. Am I satisfied? - Not even close. Going into this race, I wanted to see two things - if I was strong physically and if I was strong mentally. I completed half of my mission. On August 29, I proved what I already knew - I am a strong person mentally. During my race, I had thousands of thoughts going through my head. They ranged from "wow, this is so much fun" to "man, this really hurts", but no one time did quitting ever cross my mind. On that day, quitting was never an option. That is one part I am truly happy about. The physical part of the race was my biggest disappoint, but I don't feel I ever got the chance to test myself. My stomach issues literally held me back. That night on the run, I did what I had to do to survive. I could have continued to try to run between vomiting, but that would have left me completely empty and I would have been taken off the course in an ambulance. I didn't want my family to have to deal with that. So, this leaves me with the question "What's next?" My long term plan to carry me through 2011 is to get in about five races - either the MB marathon or XTERRA Uwharrie to begin the year, second, the Festival of Flowers Tri, Greenville Tri, Ironman Augusta 70.3, then wrapping up the season with Ironman Florida in November. I want another crack at an Ironman. I want to acheive my goals. I once read that training for an Ironman is like trying to land on the moon by remote control. Blindfolded. There are so many variables to deal with. You just have to take them as they come and keep on rolling.